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Police arrest 32 across Europe in Irish gang crackdown

Police arrested 32 people on Tuesday in simultaneous raids across several European countries targeting an alleged Irish organized crime ring, officials said.

The arrests in Britain, Spain and Ireland were aimed at a gang which Irish police, who are trying to clamp down on organized crime, suspect of drugs and weapons deals and money laundering.

Irish police, who have been monitoring the alleged gang for some time, said they had arrested one man and had searched 17 premises in the morning operation.

British police said 32 people had been arrested in simultaneous raids, including nine men and two women in the United Kingdom.

They said 20 people were arrested in Spain, among them the man believed to be the head of the network, a 53-year-old Irish-born British national living in Malaga.

This network has been offering a global investment service, plowing hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty cash into offshore accounts, companies, and property on behalf of criminals, Britain's Serious and Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) said in a statement.

The head of Ireland's Garda National Drugs Unit, Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Quilter, said drugs, cash and guns had been found in the operation, which involved 750 law enforcement officers.

Across the three jurisdictions, money, firearms and drugs have been located, he told national broadcaster RTE.

Irish cities, such as Limerick in the west, have long suffered from gang violence, drug trafficking and money laundering -- activities that often sustain the paramilitary groups operating in Northern Ireland, a part of the UK.

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Police arrested 32 people on Tuesday in simultaneous raids across several European countries targeting an alleged Irish organized crime ring, officials said.

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The arrests in Britain, Spain and Ireland were aimed at a gang which Irish police, who are trying to clamp down on organized crime, suspect of drugs and weapons deals and money laundering.

Irish police, who have been monitoring the alleged gang for some time, said they had arrested one man and had searched 17 premises in the morning operation.

British police said 32 people had been arrested in simultaneous raids, including nine men and two women in the United Kingdom.

They said 20 people were arrested in Spain, among them the man believed to be the head of the network, a 53-year-old Irish-born British national living in Malaga.

This network has been offering a global investment service, plowing hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty cash into offshore accounts, companies, and property on behalf of criminals, Britain's Serious and Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) said in a statement.

The head of Ireland's Garda National Drugs Unit, Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Quilter, said drugs, cash and guns had been found in the operation, which involved 750 law enforcement officers.

Across the three jurisdictions, money, firearms and drugs have been located, he told national broadcaster RTE.

Irish cities, such as Limerick in the west, have long suffered from gang violence, drug trafficking and money laundering -- activities that often sustain the paramilitary groups operating in Northern Ireland, a part of the UK.

Major drug supply cut off to Ireland and Europe after Irish Mafia boss arrested

One of Europe's biggest drug traffickers has been arrested in Spain's Costa del Sol. The drug kingpin is Irishman Christy Kinahan.

An operation involving the Irish, British, Spanish police and Interpol detained over 30 people across Europe last week. Such is Kinahan's influence on Ireland's drug trade that the police believe that there may be a massive drug shortage in Ireland in the coming months.

Brazilian police have seized Kinahan's property portfolio, which they believe is worth over $700million.

The Irish drugs gang came to the attention of police after some of its members was spotted driving sports cars in Spain worth over $1million.

Kinahan's associates will be now trying to identify informers and will make every effort to prove to others that they did not cooperate with the police.

Kinahan specialized in money laundering and police suspect that much of Kinahan's assets are investments belonging to other drug gangs.

Gang leaders may turn to violence as they try to recoup their losses.

Kinahan moved to Spain in 2001 after serving a stint in prison for handling stolen travelers checks. He immediately formed close ties with major international drug cartels in Spain and began his drug trafficking operation.

The drugs were hidden in trucks and shipped to Ireland via Britain.

Last Tuesday 700 police officers in Ireland, Spain, and the UK arrested 32 people in coordinated raids across Europe. Police have seized assets in Dubai, Brazil, South Africa, Spain, Belgium, Ireland and the UK.

The assets included six large leisure complexes in Brazil.

Over 60 properties have been seized in the operation and police believe a network of 30 “front” companies was used to traffic the drugs around Europe.

Dismantled on the Costa del Sol one of the main networks of organized crime in the World

A combined operation between the National Police & the Police of Great Britain and Ireland, has resulted in the dismantling of one of the largest international criminal organizations.

The leaders were living on the Costa del Sol, from where they directed their activities of trafficking drugs & arms, and money laundering.

At the moment 31 people have been arrested, 17 in Spain, 11 in the UK, and 3 in Ireland.

Also 122 searches have been carried out in properties, business premises, lawyer’s offices & establishments in all three countries.

In Spain 60 luxury properties have been sealed off, mainly on the Costa del Sol, bank accounts & products have been frozen, and luxury vehicles, firearms and a mountain of documentation has been confiscated.

The investigators have managed to link an assassination carried out in Estepona in February 2008 with certain members of the organization, and at the same time with other crimes committed on the Costa del Sol, in Holland & Ireland.

Heading the mafia ring is supposedly an Irish family that were leading one of the largest and most dangerous criminal organizations at an international level, mainly in the UK & Ireland.

Their responsibilities, in addition to maintaining complete control over the criminal world in Ireland, was to relate with the criminal leaders of the main groups in the United Kingdom.

Also, for a number of years, they were heading the drug trafficking in Holland & in Spain had manifested authority over other mafia groups based on the Costa del Sol.

In the last few days, police specialists in the fight against organized crime have investigated more than 200 business operations & have found evidence of money laundering.

The money obtained illegally has been converted mainly into Real Estate, on the Costa del Sol and other places in the World such as Brazil, where they possess 6 tourist complexes & luxury houses.

Also, because of the enormous amount of profit being made by criminal activity & money laundering, the criminals had started entering into other markets such as renewable energy, commodities, prime material markets, infrastructure, recycling, telecommunications, logistics, brothels, etc.

The agents have found out that the business network had subdivisions in some twenty countries.

In July 2008 there took place a meeting of EUROPOL in the Dutch city of The Hague, and in which participated police delegates from different countries, amongst them were Spain, Belgium, Holland, Ireland & the United Kingdom.

The object of the meeting was to unite the different police intelligence agencies with the aim to dismantle organized crime, and in particular those activities connected to the laundering of money obtained by drug and arms trafficking.

The investigators had detected a complex business structure of the organization through which they were channeling their illicit benefits.

In the framework of this international police operation it has to be highlighted the participation of Spain.

Given that the main heads of the criminal gang were based in our country, it was obvious that the Spanish directed the operation.

As son as the police agents had everything in place and co-ordinated a simultaneous strike took place resulting in the detention of the criminals and blocking their finances.

To achieve this, three mobile offices from Europol were deployed, in each one agents from the three countries implicated.

In Spain, the investigation has been carried out by the Unit of Tax & Economical Delinquency (UDEF) Central, the General Police Commission, together with the Organized Crime Section (UDYCO) Costa del Sol.

More than 150 agents took part in the operation, from the Special Operations Group (GOES), Police Intervention Units (UIP), Group Operation of Technical Intervention (GOIT), & other specialist National Police Units.